Technical assistance: Cellular service providers to aid police in fighting crime

Sindh Police finally decides to team up with cellular service providers for 'valuable information'

KARACHI:

For effective crime fighting, timing is crucial. The Sindh Police finally seems to have realised this tactic and have decided to team up with cellular service providers who would assist them in acquiring valuable information through technical solutions such as geo-fencing and call data records.

A coordination meeting with the director of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Ashfaq Musavi, and cellular service providers was held at the Central Police Office on Tuesday. The meeting was presided over by Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali and was attended by the headquarters DIG Abdul Aleem Jaffery, the police chiefs of Special Branch, Karachi and the Counter-Terrorism Department and other senior officials. On the other hand, representatives of Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, Warid and Zong were also in attendance.

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"The officials discussed in detail the timely acquisition of required information such as geo-fencing, call data record and data collection," said the Sindh police spokesperson. "It was decided to appoint focal persons for all the units of Sindh Police to remove bottlenecks and ensure the smooth flow of information for timely action against terrorists and criminals." A list of focal persons for each unit of the police department will be finalised and communicated to the PTA within 24 hours, said the spokesperson.

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“It is imperative to have immediate GSM location of high-valued moving targets to ensure timely police action," said CTD DIG Arif Hanif.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2015.